There are about 2.2 million apps in the Apple App store and nearly 3.5 million apps on the Google Play store. It can be hard to get noticed in this ever-growing sea of apps with so many available. You can have a great app idea, painstakingly develop and publish it, but it will all be for nothing if no one downloads your app. 

So, how do you get your app noticed? You have to have a mobile app marketing plan to promote your app to your audience. Mobile app marketing strategies often include two different optimization strategies, ASO and SEO. 

Read on to learn how to improve your app ASO and use SEO to market your app and increase app downloads. 

What Is ASO? 

ASO stands for App Store optimization. ASO increases your app’s visibility in the app store’s search engine. The primary goal of ASO is to increase app downloads, but it has additional benefits including, building brand awareness, boosting audience engagement, and increasing your app’s reviews. 

How to Increase Your ASO 

In the app store, you will have a variety of fields to fill out to let your audience know what your app does. These in-app fields include your app name, subtitle, keywords, screenshots, and icon. 

Fill these metadata options with the best possible keywords to help your app get discovered when users search. You can find the best keywords by conducting keyword research. Your title and descriptions should illustrate the value your app offers, distinguish it from the competition, and entice users to download your app. 

The best apps in the app store are constantly updated to improve the user experience. Releasing updates for your app can help boost your ranking as it builds trust with your users and illustrates the consistent quality of your app. 

How ASO and SEO Work Together

ASO and SEO are different strategies, but they have a lot in common. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it increases your website’s rank and website traffic. It can also create benefits for your business by increasing brand awareness and app downloads if used correctly. 

The two features that distinguish these optimization strategies are audience intent and the number of items you can optimize. 

Audience intent reflects what people are searching for. People searching online are often looking for specific information and asking questions. But, app store searches are trying to solve a particular problem, find a specific app, or look for a certain feature. As a result, you will need to use different keywords for each optimization strategy.  

In ASO, the metadata you can optimize is limited to your app listing, and you have to be smart about how you use them. SEO has many of the same metadata options, such as title and description, to include keywords. But, SEO provides more opportunities like different landing pages, links, and content to help drive traffic toward an action like downloading an app. 

Improving your SEO requires your business to create content. Creating content to boost your SEO can be challenging, so many companies outsource this process. Learn more about increasing your SEO. 

Your ASO and SEO strategies should always complement each other to work toward the same end goal. You can use SEO tactics to drive traffic to your app on the app store. Once there, a strong ASO helps encourage users to download your app. 

Up Your App ASO and SEO Game

Using mobile app ASO and SEO together allows you to build a more effective app marketing strategy. Each involves optimizing for search and keywords and optimizing content, and both make your app more visible, so users are more likely to download it.  

Are you looking for more ways to boost your app downloads? Check out our website for more mobile app marketing tips and guides.